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Closing-time karma: Guy smashes bouncer in face with a glass, slices own hand open

A man who didn't feel like leaving a Seaport bar at closing early one May morning now faces criminal charges - and is recovering from the wound he gave himself when he attacked the bouncer trying to get him to leave - a State Police trooper and bar managers told the Boston Licensing Board today.

The incident happened around 2 a.m. on May 28 at Temazcal Tequila Cantina, 250 Seaport Blvd.

State Police Sgt. Edward Troy told the board he was patrolling the seaport area - much of which is under State Police jurisdiction because it's owned by Massport - when he heard and saw a man on the sidewalk yelling at the bar. Then, he said, he noticed the guy's left hand wrapped in a bloody towel, a "deep laceration" across his palm.

Troy said he asked the man what happened and he said he cut his palm falling. But further investigation showed that, in fact, the man responded to a request to leave at 2 a.m. by a glass as a weapon on the face of a bouncer. The bouncer needed eight stitches to close the gash the man opened up on the side of his face, a bar manager said.

The man was a arrested on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

The manager said he immediately called 911 when he realized what was going on.

In addition to citing the bar for the fight, Troy and the BPD licensing unit also cited the bar for serving a minor because one of the two people with the glass wielder was not just intoxicated but was only 19.

A bar attorney, however, said there was no proof the woman was actually inside the bar that night, let alone served by it.

It's one of those weird, only-in-Massachusetts things, I guess. They can inspect bars - which have to get city-of-Boston licenses (same at the airport) - and the licensing board can act on whatever they, or the State Police, turn up.

But yes, day-to-day jurisdiction is a sore point. State Police won't give it up, or even agree to share jurisdiction, even though the area is no longer just parking lots and piers, and Boston Police say if they get an emergency call, they're going in, even if they, technically, don't have jurisdiction.

Thank you for clearing that up, Adam. Just one more thing; if BPD responded to an emergency call and had to effect an arrest, couldn't the case be thrown out in court on a technicality, or are BPD officers also Deputy Suffolk County Sheriffs?

I'm not a lawyer, so there's a limit to what I know (go figure). Somebody who does know this stuff? Jump in!

If they are in hot pursuit of somebody from "Boston" into the Seaport, I think legally they can continue the pursuit, make arrests, etc., and there's no issue.

But what happens when somebody at, oh, a Mexican-themed bar calls Boston Police directly? Dunno. There was an SJC decision a few years ago involving an off-duty cop making a "citizen's arrest" of a drunk driver in another town. The court said that was OK, because what he did was no different than any other citizen did and he called the local police and they were the ones that actually put the guy in cuffs, charged him, etc. So maybe BPD can do some things, but they'd call in State Police to handle the actual arrest?

In practical terms, the different departments are all connected by a regional radio system, so if Boston were going in, they'd probably have a dispatcher call up State Police (or Transit Police if, say, they were pursuing somebody down into a SIlver Line stop).

Boston Police say if they get an emergency call, they're going in, even if they, technically, don't have jurisdiction.

I have followed the needless turf dispute between the BPD and MSP. While State Police have primary jurisdiction in the Seaport (going back decades), wouldn't BPD have authority to make an arrest since it's within the Boston city limits? That's aside from the fact that every citizen, including a cop, has a right to make a felony arrest anywhere in the Commonwealth if they know the suspect "in fact committed" the felony, in this case A&B D/W and perhaps Mayhem (disfiguring.) I don't know the answer but would be curious if Boston Police really believe they are acting as citizens and not police (with police powers of arrest) in the Seaport. I would hope that both MSP and BPD have right of arrest, even if MSP takes the lead.

Why not close bars at 10? 8? 6? If someone is going to drink themselves stupid, what hour a bar closes at makes no difference. It happens in Boston w/ a 2am closing, it happens on the cape w/a 12am closing, and it happens in NYC w/a 4am close. Purely anecdotal, but I think having a 4am close means people drink at a slower pace, there's less of a rush to pound drinks and get out by 130 to get a cab/uber, and generally leads to less conflict.

especially fun when one of them gets bounced at four in the morning and suddenly realizes that, courtesy of the establishment giving him the heave (and his own folly, of course, but he won't think of that), he can no longer pay for his wife's operation, or his kid's college education, or his own retirement. That's entertainment!